Topic: iTunes U

Apple's iTunes U is set to be updated to allow students to submit homework through the app, and for course materials to integrate external apps, greatly expanding the abilities of its education-focused platform. [Updated]

Apple on Monday revealed that it will bring a major new update to its education-focused iTunes U app for iPad starting July 8, offering class discussions for students, and giving teachers the ability to create, edit and manage entire courses.

Apple on Tuesday announced that iBooks Texbooks and iTunes U Course Manager, two education-oriented products from the company, are expanding into new markets around the world, including Asia, Latin America, and Europe.

After launching a new iMedEd initiative built around Apple's iPad, the University of California at Irvine reports that students in the program have now scored "an average of 23 percent higher on their national exams" than previous classes, "despite having similar incoming GPAs and MCAT scores."

Apple on Tuesday announced the iPad is quickly becoming the company's strongest asset in the education market as sales nearly doubled from a year ago, meaning the tablet outperformed even portable Macs in the segment for the quarter ending in June.

Apple's iTunes U, an initiative encouraging schools to offer print, audio and video downloads of their education programs almost entirely free to the public, has hit a new milestone of 600 million downloads.